Roughly eighteen months ago, I consulted with film director Ilana Navaro about an ambitious project - a French-language documentary about Josephine Baker to be aired by ARTE, the European cultural television channel.  Navaro's aim was to "show an intimate portrait of this star and her progressive political awakening."

On the evening of March 19, 2019, I was pleased to attend the avant-première of the documentary, which is entitled Joséphine Baker - Première Icône Noire (Josephine Baker - First Black Icon). 

The screening was held at the Beau Regard cinema in Paris' 6th arrondissement, just a stone's throw away from the Saint Germain church and the Deux Magots café.  Navaro and her cinematic colleagues were thrilled to show the video to a packed house of interested spectators.

Full house at Joséphine Baker documentary screening
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Joséphine Baker - Première Icône Noire presents a unique view of Baker - one that focuses on the events in her life that led her to become an outspoken advocate for civil rights and universal brotherhood.  Combined with a gentle narrative, Navaro uses several minutes of rarely shown footage of Baker as well as less-known photographs of the star to tell an absorbing story.

Commentary in the documentary is provided by Tracy Denean Sharpley-Whiting (feminist scholar and Chaired Full Professor at Vanderbilt University), Margo Jefferson (Pulitzer Prize winner for Criticism; former theater critic at the New York Times), and Simon Njami (founder of Editions Revue Noire,  a publishing house that specializes in books and web material relating to African contemporary art and culture).

The voice of Josephine is provided by Sara Martins.

Before and after the screening, director Navaro and producer Juliette Cazanave presented the team of professionals that worked on the project. 

Juliette Cazanave makes introductions
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Ilana Navaro presents the film crew
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Then the audience was invited to enjoy a celebratory champagne cocktail reception.

Pouring champagne
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Ilana Navaro
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Juliette Cazanave
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Sara Martins - Voice of Josephine Baker
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Simon Njami
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Crowd enjoys reception
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Joséphine Baker - Première Icône Noire can be viewed on ARTE's Web site through March 31, 2019.  Click HERE to see the documentary.

Monique Y. Wells and Ilana Navaro
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